of Edinburgh, Session 1879 - 80 . 
499 
region, during long pauses between the eruptions; — all trace of 
these invasions having subsequently been destroyed by newer flows 
of lava. 
The glacial phenomena are described in great detail under the 
following heads : — 1. Glaciation; 2. Till or boulder-clay; 3. Erratics 
and Morainic debris ; and 4. Eock-basins. 
1. Glaciation . — Every island visited showed conspicuous marks 
of glacial abrasion ; and notwithstanding that the rocks have 
suffered much since the glacial period from the action of the 
weather, striae are yet well preserved in many places. They are 
very plentiful in and round Thorshavn, where they point E. 35° 
to 45° S. An examination of Stromoe and Osteroe, which were 
traversed in several places, and the smaller islands lying to the 
north-east, proved that the whole northern group had been buried 
under a thick sheet of ice, forming one compact mer de glace which 
flowed out in all directions from the dominant points of the islands. 
The glaciation was traced up to a height of 1600 feet, and as the 
water in some of the fiords is 100 fathoms deep, we must add this 
to the other measurement to get the maximum thickness of the ice 
(2200 feet), which flowed outwards from Faroe. The extreme 
northern ends of the islands were sought everywhere for indications 
of any invasion by ice from the direction of Greenland, but no 
trace of this was found ; on the contrary, the rocks were there 
highly rubbed, polished, and striated in a direction from south to 
north. In Suderoe the glaciation goes up to 1400 feet; above that 
elevation the rocks are harsh, rugged, and serrated, just as they are 
above the limits of glaciation in the northern islands. The 
southern island showed that it too had been nearly smothered in 
ice, which moved off in all directions ; and not only so, but it was 
evident from the direction and position of the striae in the north of 
Suderoe that its mer de glace was coalescent with that of the 
northern islands. During the glacial period the Faroe Islands 
were thus united by one and the same ice-sheet, which had no 
connection with either the mer de glace of Greenland or that of 
Northern Europe. It was entirely a local ice-sheet flowing 
outwards from the main elevations of the islands, and breaking 
off all round, no doubt, in icebergs. 
2. The Till is exactly comparable to the boulder-clay of Scot- 
vol. x. 3 p 
